*TRIGGER WARNING*
If you haven't heard the news yet, "High School Musical" heartthrob Zac Efron is playing the role of serial killer Ted Bundy in the upcoming movie, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, coming out this year. Ted Bundy was a serial killer, kidnapper, and rapist that killed 30 women during the 1970s but possibly killed as many as 100 women. Many people are offended that Zac Efron is playing this role because Efron is "too attractive" and the movie is going to "romanticize" a serial killer.
The movie is set in the perspective of Ted Bundy's girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who believed Bundy was innocent.
This is why his character is displayed as so charismatic and lovable in the trailer. Some people who were following this case in real time also thought he was innocent at the time. The movie is still about how horrible of a human being Ted Bundy was, despite the way he fooled everyone.
"I believe that, in order to show him exactly the way it was, it's not really glorifying him, but it's showing him. And when they do say positive and wonderful things about him, that's who they saw. That's who Bundy wanted you to see," Kathy Kleiner Rubin, a survivor who was attacked by Bundy at her Florida State University sorority house in 1978, stated. If a woman who was physically attacked by Bundy doesn't have a problem with Bundy being portrayed like the person the world truly saw him as in this upcoming movie, you shouldn't either.
Zac Efron playing the role of Ted Bundy might make people more self-aware that strangers can't always be trusted, no matter how attractive and charming they are. The world is a scary place, everyone should be cautious and aware of your surroundings at all times, especially women. I would recommend giving this movie a chance and even doing some outside research on Ted Bundy on your own if you're interested in true crime and serial killers.
My condolences go out to the families who were affected by all of Bundy's attacks/murders.
